Danish architects win 13.500 sq m education project in Germany

Lagt online 29.07.09

Danish firm schmidt hammer lassen architects has won an international design competition for a new 13,500 m2 auditorium complex for the Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technical High School in Aachen (RWTH), Germany. Twenty-one German and international companies were invited to participate in the competition.

This is the first project for the Danish firm in Germany. The new auditorium centre is due for completion in 2012.

The complex will accommodate twelve auditoriums of capacities ranging from 1800 seats to 100 seats, including several seminar rooms and offices. A physics collection is located on the lower level. Located on a block within the campus, the four storey complex is conceived as a singular sculptural object, breaking with the block structure by pulling back from the adjacent line of buildings. Two existing buildings on the block will be demolished in ten years time to create a new landscaped plaza with reflecting pools and greenery, increasing the visibility and enhancing the setting of the distinctive auditorium building. The complex has seven entrances to make it accessible from all sides of the campus with main entrances directly into the atrium on the north side and into the facade facing the plaza to the east.

The project is part of RWTH’s major development strategy, which will add 280,000 m2 of new accommodation to the campus in the next nine years to create one of the largest research landscapes in Europe. The new auditorium complex will be located at the epicentre of three of the six parts of the campus; the Central Campus, the Sports Campus and the West Campus.

Sustainability in the project:- The compactness of the building facilitates sustainable solutions.- Orientation of auditoriums and rooms avoid direct sunlight. The building volume is shaped to use natural light very efficiently.- Windows have triple glazing with low U-values and are equipped with shading structures. - Planted walls and roof (sedum grass) along with water pools provide a low-maintenance improvement to the microclimate inside and outside the building. - The plants protect the building from overheating and level surface and air temperature through evaporation. Air quality is improved by the planted walls serving as natural filter.- All exterior walls are insulated to high standards of energy efficiency.- The atrium facade combines low U-values glazing with semitransparent photovoltaic cells on the roof and on the south-west facade for shading and generation of energy (47,000 KWh/a). - Rainwater not absorbed by the green facades and roof will be collected in cisterns and used for watering and process water.